Memorial Day presents an opportunity to remember those who have served our country. Remembering that service
and sacrifice is often symbolized by hanging a flag from a porch or patio.

It also marks the unofficial beginning of summer. We at CertainTeed love to take advantage of outdoor living
spaces and we want you to get the most out of yours. Usually when a household is expecting guests, the rule of thumb is to start with cleaning. This includes your outdoor living space. Power washing a patio, deck or siding is an effective way to remove dirt and debris – leaving the intended area ready for enjoyment.

And it may just be time to take on that major renovation project you’ve been putting off. Choosing new, fresh siding or trim can give your home a much-needed face-lift. If you’re unsure how a certain style, profile or color may appear, online design tools are available that can assist with the visualization process. While exploring the different options, you might also start dreaming about stretching the budget for a new roof, deck or railing that suits your home’s unique look.

Warmer weather drives the desire to enjoy the outdoors without reservation – so embrace it! Take full advantage of your yard by installing a privacy fence. String lights around your extended living space; gather around a fire pit and you have the perfect additions for entertaining or just kicking back and relaxing.

Spring is most certainly in the air. Temperatures are warming, color is popping and the sense of renewal abounds. Those neighbors you haven’t seen since last October are out in their yards again. People are walking, kids are playing, and the sound of hammering fills the air as many folks renew via remodeling. It’s just that time of year.

It’s the remodeling part that gets me most excited, Based on a recent study conducted online by Harris Poll and commissioned by CertainTeed, when asked which one factor is most important to homeowners when completing an exterior home improvement project, 39 percent cited curb appeal, 26 percent cited return on investment, and 21 percent noted impact on outdoor living and lifestyle considerations.

The survey also supports what we at CertainTeed have known for some time, that color is every bit as exciting as it is confusing. In fact, 40 percent of U.S. homeowners admit they are not quite sure which colors would work best on the exterior of their homes. 11 percent admit to being color “clueless” and don’t know where to begin when selecting colors for their home. Having spent a lot of time and energy on color science, this is something we get. We’ve actually built an interactive design center so that homeowners can explore, get inspired and gain confidence in their color selection. The online tool allows users to play around with different design and color combinations of siding, roofing, trim and more. It’s a fun tool to check out even if you’re not in the market for remodeling.

Beyond exterior home improvement projects, however, the Harris Poll survey reveals some telling facts about those out-of-sight, out-of-mind renovations that tend to get brushed over. One in five U.S. house owners (19 percent) give little to no consideration to insulation when planning a kitchen remodel or home addition. Even more – one in four – say the same about drywall. This is interesting because, According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), we Americans spend 90 percent of our time indoors where thermal comfort and air quality matter quite a bit. The good news is by choosing high-performance insulation and formaldehyde-absorbing drywall, homeowners have more control over energy savings and indoor pollutants like mold and VOCs than they may think. It’s always advisable to work with qualified contractors who can speak to these issues and who stock quality brands and products.

While I’m on the topic of home remodeling, video entries are now being accepted for CertainTeed’s annual Living Spaces Home Makeover Contest. It may just help you or someone you know undertake that remodeling project that is so desperately needed. The winner gets a $100,000 grand prize, which includes $75,000 worth of building products, including professional installation and $25,000 to help cover taxes. So get the family together, shoot a fun video and enter to win by May 31. For more information and complete contest details, visit www.CertainTeed.com/DesignCenter.

During IBS our Meet the Experts sessions gave show attendees the opportunity to get their questions answered. Our MC, Ted Brunson pitches the following question to Matt Gibson, Marketing Director, Siding

What New Options are Available with Regard to Creating Beautiful Living Spaces?

With exterior cladding there are endless possibilities with regard to color and texture available today to create a unique look to your home. For us, it is about Freedom of Choice and aesthetics to create beautiful homes. We can give you exactly what you want to make your home reflect your style and personality. We have several online tools that will enable homeowners and builders to test colors and styles on the home so that the most informed decisions can be made before ever putting a product on the house.

Colorview is a visualization tool that can take a picture of a specific home and allow homeowners and builders to put siding and roofing styles and colors directly on the house. This enables the homeowner to select the right style and color of siding and roofing that will provide a lifetime of satisfaction and curb appeal. Our ColorCoach and CurbAppeal applications take more generic styles of homes and allow you to explore colors, styles and textures as well.

Imagine. You’re the world’s largest building product’s manufacturer. You’ve been in your existing offices for more than a quarter of a century. You’ve identified new real estate and are charged with retrofitting more than 320,000 square feet of office space to create a living lab, model and showcase of your extensive portfolio of industry-leading, sustainable building products.

Want to get an inside look behind the reinvention of the world’s largest building products company’s North American headquarters? Then stop by the Saint Gobain (Powered by CertainTeed and SAGE) Education Lab (Booth #1523) for “Balancing Act: Sustainable office design from multiple viewpoints,” this morning at 10:30 a.m.

The exterior renovations and lobby of the new headquarters are being designed by Bernardon Haber Holloway with the interiors being designed by Jacobs. By leveraging the full range of Saint-Gobain’s portfolio of sustainable products and technologies, the headquarters is expected to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Gold Certification. The goal is to create a workplace that is energy-efficient, has superior air-quality and moisture management, and makes a material difference in the comfort and health of employees.

Ultimately, Saint-Gobain selected a suburban campus along the Philadelphia corridor that could provide integrated, mixed-use space with significant room for expansion. At the same time, the new Malvern campus remains accessible to the company’s expert employee base, many of whom reside in Chester and Montgomery Counties.

In the 11th month of homebuilding, my true love gave to me; Restoration Millwork Trim® to finish our dream; an EverNew LT Deck and a yard surrounded by a Chesterfield Vinyl Fencefor privacy; a roof featuring Landmark Solaris solar reflective shingles and complemented with Apollo Solar Roofing to make my own energy; a well-insulated attic filled with InsuSafe SP; Ecophon Focus D acoustic ceiling tiles for my media room and a 70-inch big screen TV; thermally efficient Optima blown-in wall insulation and Air Renew drywall to rid me of those VOC’s; CertaWrap weather-resistant barrier and Cedar Impressions Polymer Shake Siding in ivy green; a high quality, two-story wood framed home built to please; a Form-A-Drain 3-in-1 Foundation footing system for drainage ease; an awesome set of architect house plan drawings; and a piece of land overlooking a scenic ravine.

In the 12th month of homebuilding, my true love gave to me: the keys to a brand new dream home built with CertainTeed….

Welcome to Denver! The 2013 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Convention is ready to go. Each year exhibitors look for ways to entice attendees to their booth. This year, the Saint-Gobain family of businesses – led by CertainTeed — is taking a new approach by bringing technical and building knowledge, and solution-based insights such as indoor environmental quality, acoustics and moisture management to our booth that can have a positive impact on the design of buildings in general.

Over the past year, we have offered accredited building science courses via webinar and our online continuing education platform to builders, designers and architects. This practice is helping to shape sustainable building. This year we are bringing some of these courses to the AIA Convention through our Learning Lounge. To complement this effort, the Saint-Gobain booth (2108) is staffed with technical experts across our companies who can offer building knowledge and systems expertise unequaled in the industry.

You can still talk about products, but our Building Knowledge Bar with our experts can take the conversations to a new level. You can also tweet us questions @certainteed and we can hook you up with the right expert to answer your question.

Although our courses are sold-out, we will be blogging and tweeting questions and observations that are raised in the sessions that could apply to a problem or issue you are facing. Just follow #AIA2013.

We hope to see you over the next few days at booth 2108 to share what new innovations are taking place within the Saint-Gobain family of businesses and to be your premier resource for building knowledge.

Websites such as Pinterest or Houzz might make home remodeling projects look like a breeze, but there’s something to be said for bringing in a professional remodeler to get the best results. After all, how many of you remodelers have been called to bail out a homeowner with a botched DIY remodeling project? These sites can also be a good way to showcase you work.

Add this with compelling signs that homeowner demand for remodeling projects is on the rise and it couldn’t be a better time to proactively educate homeowners on the value of a professional remodeler.

An article from BuildingOnline reports strong growth indicators for remodeling in the first quarter of 2013. It’s reported a main contributor to this is that many homeowners now need to address projects that they had postponed for a lengthy amount of time. A recent study by the NAHB shows kitchen and bathroom projects remain the most popular remodeling jobs—both projects were up 17 percent from just a few years ago.

Whether it is the experience a professional can provide or the accurate costs and timeline, homeowners should recognize when it’s necessary to call in the experts and get the job done right the first time.

The NAHB also provides a recap of tools available to help advance your remodeling business. The materials can easily be adapted for use on an ongoing basis. Remodelers should also research manufacturers for special programs that can help reduce costs on projects.

May might be National Home Remodeling month, but the opportunity to promote the benefits of a professional remodeler is a message that resonates 365 days a year.

In the 11th month of homebuilding, my true love gave to me; Restoration Millwork Trim® to finish our dream; an EverNew LT Deck and a yard surrounded by a Chesterfield Vinyl Fencefor privacy; a roof featuring Landmark Solaris solar reflective shingles and complemented with Apollo Solar Roofing to make my own energy; a well-insulated attic filled with InsuSafe SP; Ecophon Focus D acoustic ceiling tiles for my media room and a 70-inch big screen TV; thermally efficient Optima blown-in wall insulation and Air Renew drywall to rid me of those VOC’s; CertaWrap weather-resistant barrier and Cedar Impressions Polymer Shake Siding in ivy green; a high quality, two-story wood framed home built to please; a Form-A-Drain 3-in-1 Foundation footing system for drainage ease; an awesome set of architect house plan drawings; and a piece of land overlooking a scenic ravine.

In the 12th month of homebuilding, my true love gave to me: the keys to a brand new dream home built with CertainTeed….

Cellular Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) trim has changed the way we view decorative trim on the outside of a building. The ability to enhance the look in a low maintenance, paintable product has enabled building professionals and homeowners to elevate the appearance and value of their building.

Beadboard continues to provide a great alternative to wood and new profiles make it faster and easier to install and create more design possibilities for homeowners seeking show-stopping curb appeal without having to worry about future maintenance. Some of these enhancements improve the tongue and groove and fastener applications to provide a more seamless look to porch ceilings, skirting and deck surrounds.

When working with wood trim there is a great deal more work that takes place, in terms of finishing and installation, especially without the tongue and groove design.

We are all looking to work smarter. In my role, I frequently survey our customers to gain ideas for products, processes or solutions that would make their life easier in the field.

Last year, I surveyed architects and designers to identify the changes they are undergoing and what methods of information delivery best suited their current process of specifying products for their projects. One of the items that piqued my interest was that 80 percent of architects start their search for product information on the web.

The need for printed resources such as the “3-ring architect binder” has changed significantly from what it once was; hard-copy binders used to be the primary source for architects seeking product information, installation instructions, technical data, code approvals, and occasionally a bit of inspiration. More recently, changes in technology combined with the more rapid pace with which products are developed and brought to market have made the internet a natural place to house these types of information.

With the shrinking market in the build community, there is also the reality that many architects have abandoned larger offices for small spaces or home offices. Some may also have limited access to junior architects or interns to research products and need tools that save them time and resources. Design professionals in these situations do not have room for large, binder driven libraries.

As a response to these changes, the siding section of the CertainTeed website now has a digital architect binder with product information and specification documents for siding, house wrap, fence, rail, deck and trim products laid out just as they would be found in the traditional 3-ring binder. The information is easy to find, always current, available 24/7, and does not take up valuable office workspace.

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